This application relates to the commonly-assigned U.S. application Ser. No. 09/946,405, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR ASSEMBLING TELEPHONE LINE RECORDS,xe2x80x9d filed Sep. 4, 2001, and of which the xe2x80x9cBrief Summary of the Inventionxe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9cDetailed Description of the Inventionxe2x80x9d sections are incorporated herein by reference
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document and its figures contain material subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, but the copyright owner otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to computers and to telecommunications and, more particularly, to methods and systems for creating a telephone line record including Global Positioning System (GPS) information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most residential and business telephone customers are connected to a telecommunications network by cables and wires. The cables and wires include the familiar one or more telephone lines installed throughout nearly every home in the United States. Because cables and wires connect most homes and many businesses to the telecommunications network, the Public Switched Telephone Network includes billions of cables and wires. Each of these cables and wires must be maintained to provide superior communications service to the customer.
An accurate telephone line record is desirable when maintaining these cables and wires. A telephone xe2x80x9cline recordxe2x80x9d describes a customer""s telephone service, the condition of the telephone system physical facilities serving the customer, and the telephone equipment installed at the customer""s residence or business. When a customer calls to report a problem, accurate telephone line records help identify the problem and help speed resolution.
A telephone line record, however, may have an incorrect, or an incomplete, address location. If the telephone line record is incorrect, then a technician struggles to locate the customer and the facilities serving that customer. When the address is incorrect, time and effort is wasted trying to find the correct service address and the facilities. If the technician had a precise address, the technician could respond, quicker and resolve the customer""s concern.
There is, accordingly, a need for accurate telephone line records, a need for methods and systems that provide a more precise location of a customer""s service address, a need for methods and systems that provide a more precise location of the telephone plant facilities serving the customer, and a need for methods and systems that quickly and easily correct telephone line records.
The aforementioned problems are reduced by a Line Record Assembler Module. The Line Record Assembler Module comprises computer programs and computer systems that utilize Global Positioning System information to improve telephone line records. When a customer reports a problem with their telecommunications service, this invention uses Global Positioning System information to accurately locate the customer""s service address. This invention also uses the Global Positioning System information to accurately locate the telecommunications facilities serving that customer. Because the service address and the facilities are located using Global Positioning System coordinates, a technician quickly and precisely locates the customer and the facilities without using ancillary systems that require line record inputs to derive the waypoint. When the technician quickly locates the customer and the facilities, this invention allows for faster repairs of the telecommunications network. A fast repair also improves the customer""s satisfaction with their telecommunications service provider.
One embodiment of this invention describes a method for enhancing telephone line records with Global Positioning System information. A Line Record Assembler module communicates with a network, gathers various types of information, and assembles this information into a line record. A xe2x80x9cline recordxe2x80x9d describes a customer""s telephone service(s), the physical facilities serving the customer, and the service address of the customer. The line record, for example, may include at least one of the following types of information: a listed name for the customer, a service address, a location for the customer, working conditions at the service address, a class of service, listing information, port status information, and location route number. The line record could also include a cable and a line pair serving the customer, F1 and F2 lines serving the customer, a cross-connect box serving the customer, a terminal serving the customer, and even one or more utility poles serving the customer. The line record could also include a universal service order code, a terminal address, and a remote terminal serving the customer. The Line Record Assembler module communicates with a network and acquires at least one of the following: customer service information associated with a telephone number, facility information associated with the telephone number, telephone equipment information associated with the telephone number, and Global Positioning System information associated with the telephone number. The Line Record Assembler module combines the customer service information, the facility information, the telephone equipment information, and the Global Positioning System information into a line record for the telephone number. The Global Positioning System information may include a latitude, a longitude, and/or an elevation that helps locate the customer and the telecommunications facilities serving the customer.
Another embodiment describes an alternative method for enhancing telephone line records with Global Positioning System information. A work order is dispatched, with the work order describing a reported problem with a telecommunications network. The work order is associated with a telephone number and comprises Global Positioning System information retrieved from a database. The Global Positioning System information is used for locating at least one of i) a service address associated with the telephone number and ii) a telephone plant facility associated with the telephone number. Updated Global Positioning System information is received, with the updated Global Positioning System information describing the actual location of the service address and/or the telephone plant facility associated with the telephone number. The updated Global Positioning System information is then stored in the database for future uses.
Still another embodiment describes a computer system for enhancing telephone line records. The system has a Liner Record Assembler module stored in memory. The Line Record Assembler module acquires Global Positioning System information associated with a telephone number. The Line Record Assembler module uses the Global Positioning System information to create a telephone line record for the telephone number. A processor communicates with the memory and executes executable instructions.